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theliberaltony · 4 years ago

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via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

In January, Philip McHarris was driving from New Haven to Boston to visit a friend when he saw a familiar sight in his rearview mirror — flashing police lights. It was late at night, and McHarris pulled into a gas station and waited, as he had done many times before, for the state trooper to approach his window. The problem, the trooper said, was the way McHarris had pulled off at an exit. Then he said that the highway where McHarris had been driving was a drug trafficking route, and asked if he could search the car for drugs.

McHarris explained that he was a Ph.D. student in sociology and African American Studies at Yale who had just left campus for the weekend. But while the officer walked away to his car, McHarris quickly took a video of himself and sent it to his mother and sisters. “I said, ‘This cop thinks I’m trafficking in drugs,’” McHarris said. “��I just wanted to let you know that I tried and I love you. I really tried.’”

Eventually, the officer let McHarris go with a warning. It didn’t spiral into one of the deadly encounters that make the front pages of newspapers, where a Black man is killed at the hands of a police officer. The officer had even been relatively courteous, assuring McHarris that the stop wasn’t the result of racial profiling. But that just reinforced for McHarris how poorly the officer understood the racial dynamics of the interaction — much less the fear he felt throughout the encounter, and couldn’t shake even after he drove away. “What good is it if a cop is being nice to me while asking to search the car?” he said. “What I care about is that I got pulled over in the first place, and I’m sitting here thinking maybe this random gas station is the last thing I’ll see.”

Years ago, McHarris came to the conclusion that because of interactions like this, department-level policing reforms aren’t enough. And as a scholar who studies policing and works alongside the Movement for Black Lives, McHarris is part of a small network of activists who have also spent years working to defund police departments, redistribute the money to other parts of the social safety net, like housing, education and transportation, and create new systems for ensuring public safety. But now their work is suddenly everywhere. After the police killing of George Floyd, the Minneapolis City Council voted to dismantle its police department amid growing calls from protesters to “defund the police.” And it’s not just Minneapolis — officials in Los Angeles, Denver and Portland, Ore., are mulling similar ideas.

The exact meaning of the slogan varies a lot depending on who you ask. Even the Minneapolis city council members who voted to disband say their move comes with qualifications. But broadly, it involves a seismic shift in the way we think about public safety — and who is being kept safe. Some critics of the defunding movement have argued that getting rid of the police would be counterproductive — in their absence, who would keep the streets safe? But McHarris said it’s time to stop tinkering around the edges of a system that many people in heavily policed communities say is causing more harm than good. “These police reforms are implemented over and over again and Black people are still being brutalized and murdered,” he said. “Nobody is saying we can’t have mechanisms to promote safety. It just won’t look like the police.”

Defunding the police is a big departure from the reforms we’ve seen before. But although there are disagreements between activists and researchers about how sweeping change should be, pretty much everyone we spoke with agrees that the system is broken, efforts to measure it are highly flawed, and now is the moment to think big about how to fix it. In many ways, the movement to defund the police is exposing gaping holes in how we measure what good police work really is, and how we gauge a reform’s success. Because after decades of research on policing and police reform, we still don’t know that much about what police are doing, how their presence actually affects the people who experience police violence, and what people in those communities want from reform.

On its surface, large majorities of Americans support “police reform.” But “reform” is vague and gets complicated fast. For one thing, the police aren’t a single entity. There are more than 15,000 law enforcement agencies scattered throughout the U.S., which means that any change has to be piecemeal. And it’s also hard to figure out what departments are actually doing, or how to compare them. Within a single metro area, multiple departments could be operating under different rules or different standards of rule enforcement, and even using different definitions of particular buzzword-heavy reforms like “community policing.”

That lack of uniformity makes it difficult to compare police departments that have implemented similar policies. “To understand if a police reform is actually working the way you want, you need to be able to see what officers do in the field and figure out whether the reform you’re looking at changed that,” said Emily Owens, a criminology professor at the University of California, Irvine. “We don’t really have the data or the studies right now for me to say with confidence, ‘We know that these reforms work and these don’t.’”

What’s more, the data that exists is full of holes — and bias. Even when researchers try to document whether the police are doing a good job or how departments might improve, they’re often conducting those studies using metrics that help tell only part of the story. Policing data is imperfect. Due to a lack of systematic or reliable data on police misconduct, the fact that the data we do have is mostly from police departments themselves, and an emphasis on crime and police presence, it’s liable to miss important variables such as nature of police interactions with the public, or the fact that plenty of illegal or violent behavior happens in places and populations where police aren’t looking for it.

Case in point: The practice of hot spot policing. This is one of the best researched policing techniques and — after some 40-odd randomized controlled trials, by one expert’s count — also the one with the most evidence supporting its effectiveness. The basic idea is that crime is clustered throughout a city or neighborhood, so police should target those areas that see higher levels of crime.

But there are still a lot of unavoidable caveats. For instance, when scientists identify hot spots and measure whether policing in those locations has been effective, what they’re really looking at is crime statistics, said Cody Telep, a criminology professor at Arizona State University. That isn’t necessarily the same thing as measuring safety (real or perceived) in a community, he told us. After all, about half of all violent crimes are never reported to the police at all. So the appearance of a hot spot in the data doesn’t necessarily mean that’s where the most dangerous criminal activity is actually happening — something Telep’s team saw firsthand when it compared the locations of drug-related calls to police in Seattle with drug-related calls to the emergency medical services in the same city. It turns out there was a lot of drug activity the police were missing entirely.

Crime, then, and particularly crimes reported to police, are not a great metric by which to judge where the most crime in a city is happening and how dangerous that area feels to the people who live there. Nor is a reduction in crime the end-all, be-all metric to tell you whether police are doing good work. “Certainly reducing crime is a good metric, but I would add to that, at what cost?” said Rod Brunson, a professor at Northeastern University’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

These statistics also don’t tell researchers anything about what police should be doing in a hot spot — or what police do in communities every day. Researchers have established that it’s effective to spend more time in certain parts of town … but, Telep said, have offered little guidance on what police should do once they’re there.

And even if police were given guidelines on what they should be doing, nobody currently keeps track of metrics that would show what those officers were actually doing. That’s about to change, at least partially — under an executive order issued by President Trump last week, the Department of Justice will begin maintaining an anonymized database of police misconduct. But there’s still a catch: The only time we find out about what police do in their day-to-day work is when someone complains or files a report about it, said Wesley Skogan, professor emeritus of political science at Northwestern University. That means there’s no incentive toward good behavior — even though some research suggests that positive interactions with police can improve public attitudes toward them. “The fact about policing is it’s two people in a car, in the night. What we know about what they do is when they choose to fill out a form,” Skogan said.

But even in the situations where it is possible to get good data on real-world police behavior, whether a reform has been successful depends a lot on your perspective. In general, research tends to focus on metrics that are easy to quantify: Did a reform lead to fewer police killings? Fewer civilian complaints? More fired officers? But those measures don’t really account for the human and social cost of police violence, and they don’t tell us much about whether people in overpoliced communities are actually feeling safer.

Part of the problem is that we don’t have a good way to measure or track the effects of dealing with the police on an everyday basis. But qualitative research can give us a window into how a heavy police presence can stoke feelings of deep mistrust. In a study of young people in Baltimore conducted shortly after the killing of Freddie Gray, Yale sociologist and law professor Monica Bell concluded that although the people she was studying were very concerned about violence in their communities, they didn’t see police as protectors. “It’s not just that people are being brutally beaten or shot and killed by police, it’s the routine, daily messaging of — they are going to be watching you in your neighborhood, they’re going to mace you at your school,” she said. “People will even report that a police officer behaved in the ‘correct’ manner but they still walk away with a deep sense that they’ve experienced a broader racism, a broader sense of exclusion that quantitative measures can’t easily capture.”

Analysis of conversations with people in heavily policed communities by a group of political scientists found a similar result: To the people in the study, the police seemed like they were everywhere — except when their help was actually needed. The deep-rooted perception that the police are there to monitor you, not protect you, is hard both to measure and undo. “There’s a very strong perception that the police are there to protect and serve the white community on the other side of the city or the suburbs,” said Gwen Prowse, a Ph.D. candidate in political science and African American studies at Yale and one of the study authors. “The idea is — if you only see me as a criminal and you don’t see me as a full member of this society, how can you protect me?”

And without input from the people who actually experience police violence, attempts to evaluate police reforms can end up reflecting what the researchers — and not the people who are affected — think is important. “There’s this weird business where people think data can solve everything, but data without thoughtful engagement with the community is actually part of the problem,” said Bocar Ba, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Law School who studies economics and crime.

Use of force is one such example — just as police departments have different definitions of what constitutes “excessive force,” so can researchers. For instance, the idea that there is an “optimal” or “reasonable” use of force may prompt researchers or policymakers to ignore or discount lower-level incidents that were still quite traumatic for the person involved. “Who are the people deciding what an ‘optimal’ use of force is?” said Ba. “Are they the people who are experiencing brutality themselves? In almost all cases, no.”

Meanwhile, researchers are just starting to scratch the surface of how an uneasy and often violent relationship with police shapes other aspects of people’s lives. A recent study of students in an urban Southwest school district found that proximity to police shootings harmed high school students’ performance. That’s in line with other research indicating that having police in schools may actually decrease high school graduation rates. But these types of social costs aren’t easily priced in when researchers evaluate whether a reform succeeded or failed.

It’s becoming increasingly clear, too, that the reforms we’ve already tried are running headlong into other difficult to measure, difficult to fix forces, like police culture. Encounters between police and civilians are often violent because police officers are taught to think of themselves as always being in danger, according to research by sociologist Michael Sierra-Arévalo of the University of Texas. At the same time, Skogan said, police culture tends to discount things people at community meetings say they are actually interested in — like controlling traffic or reducing public drinking — as boring.

These are the kinds of problems that make activists like Arissa Hall, the director of National Bail Out, argue that simply reducing contact between police and civilians, and replacing the police with other community resources, is a much better way to address police violence. There might not be many precedents for disbanding police departments, but the positive effect of reducing police presence and investing in housing and education can already be seen in other places. “Abolishing police departments might seem impractical, but there aren’t police officers on every street corner in affluent white neighborhoods,” she said. “We have actual models and examples of what it means to decenter the police and invest in people’s quality of life.”

There’s a lot of research to support the idea that putting more money into resources that improve people’s lives — like health care, housing and education — can reduce crime. The more nebulous question is how removing funding for police departments will affect public safety. But Jennifer Doleac, an economics professor at Texas A&M University who studies crime, suggested policymakers and researchers should prioritize listening to the experiences of people who are interacting with police and make sure those are taken into account when deciding which policies are implemented and how to evaluate their success.

“Clearly, the system that we have now isn’t working for a lot of people,” Doleac said. “So can I see risks to significantly rolling back funding for police departments? Sure. But there’s also a big, big risk in doing too little right now.”

#IFTTT #Politics – FiveThirtyEight #politics #538 #Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux and Maggie Koerth

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nuclearblastuk · 5 years ago

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ENFORCER | Band release official video for 'Sail On' ahead of their colossal US tour

Swedish metallers ENFORCER released their fifth studio album Zenith on April 26, 2019 through Nuclear Blast. After playing a string of European clubs shows and festivals, the quartet have just finished a 4-date Mexican tour with US-based thrash metal outfit WARBRINGER. But that's just the beginning as both bands are kicking off a 54-date North American tour at Brick By Brick in San Diego, CA today. Following this run, ENFORCER will return to European shores in November/December as part of the recently announced Winter Tour 2019 alongside label mates MUNICIPAL WASTE. The tour package is completed by TOXIC HOLOCAST and SKELETAL REMAINS. This is a tour not to be missed! All dates can be found below.

In anticipation and celebration of the aforementioned live activities, ENFORCER have released a music video for the track 'Sail On', which was directed, filmed and edited by Christoffer Sandler. Watch now: youtu.be/EEH-ZT1h8GA Guitarist/vocalist Olof Wikstrand states, "Super excited to release this fourth music video off of »Zenith.« Takes you back to the recording sessions of the album. Also we are super excited to kick off the North American tour this week. See you out there!" North American Tour 2019 ENFORCER + WARBRINGER 05.09. USA San Diego, CA - Brick By Brick 06.09. USA West Hollywood, CA - Whisky a Go-Go 07.09. USA Santa Ana, CA - Malone's 08.09. USA Fresno, CA - Strummer's 09.09. USA San Francisco, CA - Thee Parkside 10.09. USA Sacramento, CA - Holy Diver 11.09. USA Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre 12.09. USA Seattle, WA - El Corazon 13.09. CDN Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw Theatre 14.09. CDN Edmonton, AB - The Starlite Room 15.09. CDN Calgary, AB - Dickens 16.09. CDN Regina, SK - The Exchange 17.09. CDN Winnipeg, MB - The Park Theatre 18.09. USA Minneapolis, MN - Lee's Liquor Lounge 19.09. USA Omaha, NE - Lookout Lounge 20.09. USA Des Moines, IA - Vaudeville Mews 21.09. USA Racine, WI - Route 20 22.09. USA Joliet, IL - The Forge 23.09. USA Westland, MI - The Token Lounge 24.09. USA Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place 25.09. CDN Toronto, ON - Velvet Underground 26.09. CDN Ottawa, ON - Mavericks 27.09. CDN Sherbrooke, QC - Bar Le Magog 28.09. CDN Trois-Rivieres, QC - Rock Café Le Stage 29.09. CDN Québec City, QC - L'Anti Bar & Spectacles 30.09. CDN Montreal, QC - Les Foufounes Électriques 01.10. USA Philadelphia, PA - The Foundry @ The Fillmore 02.10. USA Clifton, NY - Dingbatz 03.10. USA Poughkeepsie, NY - The Chance Theater 04.10. USA Brooklyn, NY - The Kingsland 05.10. USA Elmhurst, NY - Blackthorn 51 06.10. USA Halethorpe, MD - Fish Head Cantina 07.10. USA Pittsburgh, PA - Cattivo 08.10. USA Richmond, VA - The Canal Club 09.10. USA Indianapolis, IN - Black Circle Brewing Co. 10.10. USA Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade 11.10. USA Durham, NC - Motorco Music Hall 12.10. USA Winter Park, FL - The Haven Lounge 13.10. USA Margate, FL - O’Malley's Sports Bar 14.10. USA Ybor City, FL - Crowbar 15.10. USA New Orleans, LA - Southport Hall 16.10. USA Houston, TX - Scout Bar 17.10. USA San Antonio, TX - The Rock Box 18.10. USA Austin, TX - Come and Take It Live 19.10. USA Dallas, TX - Trees 20.10. USA Merriam, KS - Aftershock Live Music Venue 21.10. USA Tulsa, OK - The Shrine 22.10. USA Oklahoma City, OK - 89th Street 23.10. USA Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad 24.10. USA Denver, CO - Herman's Hideaway 25.10. USA Salt Lake City, UT - Liquid Joe's 26.10. USA Las Vegas, NV - Backstage Bar & Billiards 27.10. USA Tucson, AZ - The Rock 28.10. USA Tempe, AZ - Club Red Winter Tour 2019 MUNICIPAL WASTE + TOXIC HOLOCAUST + ENFORCER + SKELETAL REMAINS 28.11. D Nuremberg - Z-Bau 29.11. D Chemnitz - AJZ 30.11. B Antwerp - Kavka Zappa 01.12. NL Drachten - Iduna 03.12. UK Birmingham - The Asylum 04.12. UK Glasgow - Slay 05.12. UK Belfast - Limelight 06.12. UK Manchester - Club Academy 07.12. UK Leeds - Brudenell Social Club 08.12. UK London - ULU Live 10.12. D Oberhausen - Kulttempel 11.12. I Paderno Dugnano (MI) - Slaughter Club 12.12. D Landshut - Alte Kaserne 13.12. D Cottbus - Glad House 14.12. CZ Prague - Nová Chmelnice 15.12. D Berlin - SO36 Zenith can be ordered on various formats, here: nblast.de/EnforcerZenith Limited Edition Digipack CD - nblast.de/ZenithAMZCD Black Vinyl - nblast.de/ZenithAMZVinyl Limited Edition Coloured Vinyl and Digipack CD + patch - nblast.de/ZenithNB 'Die For The Devil' official video: youtu.be/LSvSxlOv6F4 'Searching For You official lyric video: youtu.be/XTOePETOcc4 'Regrets' official video: youtu.be/UBuiWlbX0MI The tracklist racks up as follows: 01. Die For The Devil 02. Zenith Of The Black Sun 03. Searching For You 04. Regrets 05. The End Of A Universe 06. Sail On 07. One Thousand Years Of Darkness 08. Thunder And Hell 09. Forever We Worship The Dark 10. Ode To Death Bonus Track (digital only) 11. To Another World Zenith contains 10 brand new anthems, bringing not only classic tunes, but also fresh blood to the band's unique sound. In addition, guitarist Jonathan Nordwall debuts as new permament member of the group on the forthcoming record. Comments Olof Wikstrand on the new record, "Zenith is definitely the most ambitious project we ever engaged ourselves in. I think all together we spent over two and a half years to write, produce and record it all. We are super excited to finally get this one out to you all. Beware the 'Zenith Of The Black Sun'." The drums were recorded at Soundtrade Studios, Stockholm and the rest of the tracking was completed at Hvergelmer Studios, Arvika. Zenith was produced by the band themselves and the artwork was created by Italian artist Velio Josto. ICYMI: TRAILER #1: Olof and Jonas discuss the writing and recording process for Zenith: youtu.be/ZLQkpdSEUwA TRAILER #2: Olof and Jonas discuss how the album came together and the recording process: youtu.be/n36kAwSGVzE TRAILER #3: Olof and Jonas discuss the first five songs on the record in the first track by track trailer: youtu.be/8bQzfWwPLG0 'Voy A Encontrarte': youtu.be/Dm-2GiP2xzY

ENFORCER is: Olof Wikstrand | vocals, guitars Jonas Wikstrand | drums, piano & keyboards Tobias Lindqvist | bass Jonathan Nordwall | guitars

#Enforcer #Zenith PowerMetal NuclearBlast

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moderncolors · 6 years ago

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The Ultimate List of Alternative Baby Names { bohemian, hippie, offbeat, fantasy, goth baby names} So you've got a wee one on the way and you're looking for a name as unique as your new baby is going to be, am I right? Well, check out this great list of offbeat names for I've created just for creative moms and dads-to-be like you. A lot of these names are form lists I made when thinking of names for my two tots and some inspired by my favorite celebrity kid names and some are from the top of my head. Yes, some of these names are "out there" and I've gotten a lot of hateful comments about this post (that's why comments are disabled) but what do you expect from a post called THE ULTIMATE LIST OF ALTERNATIVE BABY NAMES? If you like the names. Awesome! If you don't, that's cool too. To each his own! NOTE: I didn't separate the names by gender as many of these can work for both boys and girls! Last updated 9/28/18 ▲BOHEMIAN & ARTSY▲ Arlo, Allegra, Alto, Ariel, Art, August, Avery, Beau, Bell/Belle, Blue, Burgundy, Cass/ Cassy, Cobalt, Cosette, Cruz, Dali, Dancer, Delia, Delilah, Donatello, Early, Eartha, Flannery, Frida, Golden, Harper, Haven, Hawthorne, Hendrix, Henna, Holden, Holiday, Honor, Hugo, Indigo, Isa, Jazz, Kahlo, Kodak, Langston, Lazareth, Legend, Lennon, Leonardo, Limerick, Lyric, Magenta, Mandala, Mandolin, Marlowe, Merlot, Michelangelo, Monet, Muse, Orlando, Paloma, Pen, Picasso, Piper, Poem, Quinn, Raphael, Red, Rigby, Ringo, Royal, Rufus, Shakespeare, Sonata, Sonnet, Story, Symphony, Tango, Tempo, True/Tru, Truman, Tuesday, Uma, Vellum, Vin/Vino, Xuxa (Shusha),Yoko, Zora amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "mocotw-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "e98f453f5cf9b08a37caad8372b2923c"; amzn_assoc_design = "in_content"; amzn_assoc_asins = "B07HR5SS5B,B079H2V79B,B07GZPGJYW,B072TY48WK,B00OVJJUFM"; amzn_assoc_title = " "; ▲COSMIC▲ Aries, Callisto, Cassiopeia, Celeste, Celestial, Cloud, Comet, Constellation, Cosmic, Cosmo/Cosmos, Earth, Eclipse, Elara, Jupiter, Libra, Luna/Lunar, Mars, Mercury, Moon, Nebula, Nova, Orion, Pluto, Sirius, Solar, Star, Starbright, Stardust, Starlight, Starshine, Vega, Venus amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "mocotw-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_asins = "B00XQKJGVA,B07FDXY48N,B01DU228AO,B07J1CF5JW"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "c59c0f86e61a2f79d07a89219045df92"; amzn_assoc_design = "in_content"; ▲DESTINATIONS & TRAVEL▲ Africa, America, Asia, Austin, Brooklyn, China, Cairo, Columbia, Dakota, Dallas, Denver, East, Egypt, England, Everest, Geneva, Georgia, Germany, Holland, India, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Journey, Kenya, London, Morocco, Nazareth, Nevada, Niagara, North, Paris, Odessa, Orient, Peru, Rome/Roman, Russia, Scotland, South, Traveler, Venice, Vienna, Wander, West, Zion, Zanzibar amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "mocotw-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_asins = "B01ASVCW6K,B00408AA9O,B07KK5DSYF,B07JH8LKPR"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "c59c0f86e61a2f79d07a89219045df92"; amzn_assoc_design = "in_content"; amzn_assoc_title = " "; ▲FANTASY, MYTHOLOGY & SCI-FI▲ Amidala, Anakin, Apollo, Aragorn, Aries, Arwen, Artemis, Aslan, Athena, Atlas, Avalon, Dalek, Data, Elron, Elvin, Eros, Fairy/Faery, Faramir, Freya, Geordi, Gimli, Gulliver, Hera, Hermione, Isis, Jareth, Járnsaxa, Jean-Luc, Jedi, Lando, Leia, Merry, Odin, Oz, Padme, Pan, Persephone, Philomena, Phoenix, Pippen, Pixie, Samwise, Sisko, Sirius, Solo, Sprite, Sulu, Tardis, Thor, Titan, Trillian, Troy, Venus, Xavier, Zeus amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "mocotw-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_asins = "B075FC488Z,B071Y215TY,B075K5S2DR,B07CG4P4VJ"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "c59c0f86e61a2f79d07a89219045df92"; amzn_assoc_design = "in_content"; amzn_assoc_title = " "; ▲GOTHIC▲ Alabaster, Armand, Ash, Belladonna, Blade, Blaze, Chalice, Cinder, Crimson, Damien, Dante, Draegan, Draven, Echo, Eclipse, Edge, Ember, Enigma, Essence, Eternity, Flame, Gabriel, Garnet, Gossamer, Gotham, Granite, Grimm, Hamlet, Illusion, Jet, Labyrinth, Lace, Lazarus, Lenore, Lestat, Loki, Lore, Lucretia, Maleficent, Maze, Memory, Midnight, Mist, Moonlight, Morrow, Morticia, Mystery, Nightshade, Noir, Obsidian,Onyx, Ophelia, Pandora, Panther, Poe, Porcelain, Prism, Rain, Rapture, Raven, Razor, Requiem, Rogue, Rosary, Sabre, Salem, Satin, Scarlet, Seraphim, Shade, Shadow, Steel, Stone, Storm, Talon, Thorne, Twilight, Veil, Velvet, Winter, Wolf, Zane amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "mocotw-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_asins = "B01MF8K902,B00I3Q5A4E,B00MMJR8KW,B00NYIADBG"; 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edulaunchers · 4 years ago

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5280software · 4 years ago

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perfectirishgifts · 4 years ago

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A Brief History Of NetJets And How It Plans To Stay On Top

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/a-brief-history-of-netjets-and-how-it-plans-to-stay-on-top/

A Brief History Of NetJets And How It Plans To Stay On Top

For more than a quarter-century, NetJets has been the big dog in the world of private jet solutions. It’s a market where competitors have come and gone, and in some cases, come back again. And while it hasn’t been a flight without turbulence, for the leader, its view continues to be well ahead, from the front of the pack. Of course, how you view the pack depends on your lens. But first, a bit of history.

The history of NetJets

Looking back to the late 1980s, the brand’s founder Richard Santulli popularized the concept of fractional ownership, filling the massive gap between one-off charters and the magnitude of full ownership. Instead of buying an entire airplane, you purchased a share, starting at just 50 hours per year. Somebody else would now hire the pilots, worry about your holidays versus theirs, take care of the maintenance and where to park the thing. Even better, you could upgrade to a larger jet if you needed to bring along more people or downgrade to a smaller aircraft if you wanted to save a few dollars. When you needed to go someplace, your jet would be ready for you, at your preferred local airport, with just a few hours’ notice. And unlike charter, you had a consistent experience, both in terms of look-alike cabins and standards for safety and pilot training.

Billionaire’s Ball: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway purchased NetJets in 1998 for $725 million. … [] Here he appears in an early 2000s advertisement with friend and client Bill Gates selling fractional ownership. A decade later, NetJets would launch QS Partners, one of the largest whole aircraft brokers, helping customers moving to shared ownership sell their private jets.

There was the expansion to Europe and the 1998 acquisition by Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B , an unequivocal stamp of approval when you are selling to the C-Suite. A 1999 profile by Forbes noted over the previous four years, NetJets “purchased nearly 600 planes worth $10 billion—about 40% of the world’s business jet market.”

There was a boost from 9-11 as terrorism fears and airport safety became a big issue for CEOs and UHNWs. There was a famous ad campaign with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates lounging on the L-shaped sofa aboard one of its Boeing Business Jets and more growth. As one former rival somewhat enviously put it, “NetJets is the blue in blue-chip. They’re a safe haven.” When Uber was initially raising money, it referenced the company as a basis for its vision. The trend lines were going in one direction, up.

That was before the financial crisis of 2008 pulled the rug out from under the entire business aviation market and brought a $711 million loss to the fractional provider in 2009. By the time Buffett wrote his 2010 annual letter to shareholders that “NetJets would have been out of business (without Berkshire’s backing),” its founder was gone.

NetJets’ operations center coordinates hundreds of daily flights and crews, some of them scheduled … [] as few as four hours before departure. At the outbreak of COVID-19, the entire operation was shifted to work at home in days.

The transition to the current management of NetJets’ veterans came after two different outsider CEOs and a battle with its flight crews and their union. Except for larger jets, most private aircraft don’t have flight attendants. Those guys who sit up front are your customer service. In the world of private jets, the pilots greet you when you arrive at the terminal and even help load your luggage. They give you your safety briefing and pour you a cup of coffee once you are seated. A March 2015 press release from the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots announced 98% of the union’s members voted no confidence in the then CEO.

Less than three months later, and a month after leaving the company, longtime sales boss Adam Johnson was back, installed in the corner office. Bill Noe, who had left that April, returned as president and COO. In an interview with The Columbus Dispatch, union boss Pedro Leroux immediately said, “We believe we can work with A.J. and Bill Noe…We’re cautiously optimistic that (the new leadership will lead to) improvement in the labor relations we’ve had the last few years.”

New rivals and familiar faces

While unrest is now distant history, nothing stands still. New rivals emerged. Thomas Flohr brought his fractional alternative VistaJet to the United States with a fleet of slick silver airplanes and European-style white-glove service. He’s since acquired XOJET and JetSmarter, combining their brokerage businesses into XO while holding a minority stake in XOJET Aviation, the operator side. He recently announced plans to add 50 light jets to its North American fleet.

From his base in Cleveland, longtime rival Kenn Ricci’s Directional Aviation snapped up Flexjet from Bombardier, jet card leader Sentient Jet, and more recently charter broker PrivateFly in the U.K. Earlier this summer, he launched FXAIR, an on-demand brokerage that sells flights on 30 Challenger 300 and Global Express jets that are exiting his fractional program. Beyond the U.S., Ricci last month launched a Flexjet fractional share and lease program in Europe, going head-to-head with his in-state competitor. He also holds options for what looks to be the world’s first supersonic private jet, something that might be too hard for those who can afford it to pass up if it happens.

Then there’s Kenny Dichter. Having gotten his start in private aviation in 2001 by pestering Santulli for an exclusive agreement to sell jet cards in increments of 25 hours onto the NetJets fleet under the Marquis Jet Partners banner, he’s back. After being bought out in 2010, he launched Wheels Up in 2013. Even with just three King Air turboprops to start, there was no doubt his sights were set on the Columbus, Ohio, headquarters of the largest operator of private jets in the world. Today, after an 18-month acquisition spree has brought his fleet to over 300 owned and managed aircraft, he’s about halfway there. He also counts Delta Air Lines as his largest shareholder with a 24% stake.

Decades of dominance

While the barbarians continue to gather around the moat, blowing their horns, firing arrows, and issuing press releases, if success is measured by fleet size or flight hours, it’s not apparent they have much chance of breaching the wall.

Through October of this year, data from JetNet also shows NetJets with 531 aircraft, 65% of the total fractional fleet. Through November, Argus shows NetJets clocked 268,881 flight hours for North American operations compared to 121,686 for second place Flexjet.

For perspective, a 2007 UBS report estimated NetJets had a 61% share of the fractional fleet. In other words, nearly 15 years later, not much has changed, except the names. Gone are Avantair, CitationAir and Raytheon Travel Air. Others are around, having pivoted to different models.

Still, the fractional numbers don’t include the aircraft management and charter arm of NetJets, Inc., Executive Jet Management (EJM). With over 230 aircraft, about 150 available for hire, on its own it is one of the three largest charter operators measured by hours. Combining charter and fractional operators’ flight hours in North America, NetJets, Inc. ended 2019 with a 20.8% market share compared to 6.7% for Ricci’s Directional Aviation, 5.3% for Wheels Up’s three operators, and 3.4% for Vista Global Holding’s XOJET Aviation and VistaJet. In 2007, NetJets share was 21.9%, although Argus says its historical data has a /- 10% margin of error.

Is NetJets profitable?

While NetJets has no intention of ceding any ground, it’s often hard to get a read on what’s happening. There are only passing references to the company in Berkshire’s financials. Patrick Gallagher, president of NetJets, says it is debt-free, although he declines to comment on profitability. Its results are grouped with a half dozen other holdings, ranging from Dairy Queen and an electronics component maker to FlightSafety, a leader in pilot training.

Under the NetJets, Inc. umbrella, there’s also QS Partners. Gallagher says launching the whole aircraft brokerage division came after listening to potential customers. Aircraft owners were saying, “If you can sell my current jet, I’ll buy a share from you.” QS Partners is believed to be one of the industry’s larger players in that segment, often helping customers as they transit between owning a jet, a share, jet card, or charter, many having multiple solutions at the same time.

Expanding the fleet and facilities

You’re more likely to see a press release from NetJets about sponsoring an equestrian event than boasting about flight numbers or new members. In fact, it caused a considerable amount of chatter during a recent conference when Gallagher let drop that not only will NetJets take delivery of over 30 new private jets this year, it expects to take at least 40 new aircraft every year for the next decade. Having purged its fleet of older models over the past several years (average age is now seven years), he told the industry audience most of the new jets would be additive, not replacements, the result being a “significantly larger” fleet in the future.

NetJets is also expanding on the ground. In October, it announced new facilities in Denver and San Jose that will feature private lounges for customers. Gallagher says more significant is the hangar space, which means more places to carry-out minor maintenance that “keeps the planes moving.” Further announcements are expected, he says.

While not everything NetJets touches turns to gold – the Boeing Business Jet fleet didn’t last long, a partnership in Saudi Arabia came and went, and an excursion into China ended in short order – you don’t see the company chasing every shiny object. It was on the sidelines for the very light jet air taxi fad of the early 2000s and has eschewed selling seats and crowdsourcing flights, something Wheels Up, Vista Global, and Jet Linx Aviation, another up and comer, have been championing.

NetJets is planning to add more than 40 private jets per year for the next decade. Based on fleet … [] size, it would rank alongside Southwest Airlines as fourth largest in the world.

When asked if NetJets’ success is a bit on the boring side, Gallagher responds, “Our primary focus has always been safety and service…We focus on incremental innovation and continuous investment to widen our moat. Things like FOQA (That’s Flight Operational Quality Assurance) and AQP (That would be Advanced Qualification Programming training), real estate investments, sustainable aviation fuel, Ka-band WIFI on large-cabin jets, and industry-leading pilot compensation don’t always garner the same press as another jet-sharing app or the prospect that private flight has become more accessible, but the developments that I mentioned are valued greatly by our customers and allow us to maintain our leadership position.”

Asked if there NetJets will be jumping on the bandwagon with other private jet companies to create luxury vacation experiences, Gallagher says beyond a select group of partnerships, it’s not something customers are asking for.

It also has been absent from the frenzied deal market that has seen seven of the nine largest charter operators merge, make acquisitions, or be acquired in the past two years. “Given our position in the industry, our strong balance sheet, and the Berkshire Hathaway connection, you have to imagine that we get a look at lots of acquisition opportunities, new aircraft models and other investment ideas. We aren’t getting beat to the deals. We just haven’t found many that we felt were worth doing,” Gallagher says.

#OnlyNetJets. The world’s largest private jet operator has no qualms about the leadership position … [] it has held for decades. Its president, Patrick Gallagher (pictured), compares joining to the company to how kids grow up dreaming about playing for the iconic New York Yankees. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for The New York Times )

NetJets may not operate for the benefit of lifestyle journalists, issuing reports about where customers are jetting or launching fear of flying programs for your puppy. However, a visit to its headquarters at John Glenn Columbus International Airport in Ohio is an impressive experience, something akin to NASA operations, or well, a major airline, which in essence is what NetJets is.

Based on fleet size, it would be in a tie with Southwest Airlines, behind only American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines. A difference is its flights aren’t scheduled a year in advance. Fractional owners can call with as little as four hours’ notice. That’s right. If you decide you want to go someplace sunny during breakfast, by lunchtime, you can be airborne and on your way. While that’s impressive if you live in New York or Los Angeles, it’s the same for customers in North Dakota or New Mexico.

In Columbus, a large hangar-like room features rows of desks with blinking monitors and screens with dots showing the NetJets fleet in action. Color-coded bars track flight crews and their status as well as scheduled and unscheduled maintenance. NetJets pilots can take themselves off flights at any time or any reason without retribution, part of its emphasis on safety.

While NetJets has a high profile via relationships with star athletes such as tennis great Roger … [] Federer (pictured), the subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway does not break out financial results. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images for The Laver Cup)

Owner service representatives, dispatchers, travel coordinators, crew services, and even a team of in-house meteorologists that work 24/7/365 normally sit in groups. As COVID spread this past March, Gallagher says, “In the course of a few days (the various groups) were set up at their homes with laptops, monitors, web-phones and headsets.” Not a single flight was delayed.

If Mr. Smith is undecided about heading to Florida this weekend because he heard it might rain, he can speak to a certified weatherperson to get a micro forecast for Saturday morning at his golf club. If Mrs. Walsh is a skittish flyer, her owner services representative might call her the day before and suggest adjusting her departure time to avoid a passing storm.

Since NetJets operates its aircraft – it has control over the health safety protocols for its flight crews and the cleaning process, as well as what’s stocked on each airplane. In fact, NetJets used its aircraft to fly PPE from China to frontline workers in the U.S. at the outset of the pandemic. It also was among the first operators to test flight crews.

For customers, they can request specific magazines, order from a variety of menus serving up healthy to indulgent, or even specify a preferred brand of beer be stocked, although COVID-19 protocols are probably a more important factor for buyers these days. Despite the crisis, NetJets recently rolled out an umbrella for its multitude of sustainability initiatives. It also published a chart showing customers how much it costs to offset the carbon emissions from their flights. Being a leader on issues bigger than its own bottom line is an important part of being part of Berkshire, Gallagher said at the time. Philanthropy has long been at the core of what NetJets does. It is a longtime supporter of Corporate Angel Network, using empty legs to fly cancer patients for treatments.

Each aircraft type in the NetJets fleet is configured the same, providing an owner-like experience … [] for its customers.

If others sell the sizzle, operations executives at headquarters talk excitedly about how they use reams of data captured from every flight to enhance safety. That includes coming up with slightly different approaches to a handful of tricky airports.

At its core, it’s about attention to detail and experience. Pilots average 16 years with the company and over 10,000 hours at the controls, far beyond the 1,500-hour minimum mandated by the FAA. Twice a year, they go through four-day training sessions onsite at FlightSafety, including special training for mountain and island destinations.

NetJets appears to have come into this crisis from a position of strength. During the same conference, Gallagher told virtual attendees the company is back to 85% of pre-COVID flight levels, and it expects to be back to 2019 levels by the second half of 2021.

It is one of only a few large operators to eschew CARES Act money, and it has been openly critical of those that did. Gallagher taunts, “With the rising tide apparently lifting all ships in our industry, I’m hopeful as a taxpayer that some of those CARES Act funds get paid back. We see our competitors touting their recent success and return to pre-pandemic levels. I’m glad that those funds were available to keep people employed, but many of these companies today are out doing bolt-on acquisitions and spinning off new ventures. Personally, I am hopeful they are also paying back the tens of millions of dollars that they took to make payroll just a few months ago.”

Is NetJets for you?

Success may be one of NetJets’ most significant obstacles. “One of the things we hear a lot are people who have a preconceived notion…unless you’re flying a couple of hundred hours a year, ‘I don’t need NetJets.’ What I think it boils down to is the perception that we are significantly more expensive than other options that are out there, and the fact is we are not,” Gallagher says.

While many companies try to equate the cost of flying privately to be a reasonable premium to first class on the airlines using a per seat formula, that ignores that the average private jet typically has four passengers. In many cases, it’s just one or two. Rivals’ promotions typically include a grid showing their hourly rates compared to NetJets, with claims of saving 30% or so. For Gallagher, he simply says, “If you are spending 10 times more than what you would pay the airlines, why not spend 11 times more and get what you expected.”

NetJets is also making it easier for new customers to join. Until last year, it didn’t have a true light jet in its Marquis Jet card program. It also waived the daily minimum flight time charges on the Phenom 300, Citation XLS and Latitude, in some cases making it a price leader for short hops. Competitors have minimums as high as 120 minutes on light and midsize aircraft. That means your $5,000 hourly rate ends up on your invoice as a $10,000 charge, even if your flight was 30 minutes. With NetJets, you would pay the half-hour of flight time, and like most programs, 12 minutes for taxi time.

It is one of the few providers that offers fixed one-way rates to Hawaii and Europe. That means you don’t have to pay for the ferry flights after you are dropped off or to come to pick you up when you are ready to return. There are no surcharges for flights to the Caribbean, Mexico and Canada, except for pass-along international fees. A number of competitors limit their fixed-rate service area to the Continental U.S. while others charge premiums up to 40%. Deicing, something that runs into the thousands of dollars, is included, as is catering, which can add up quickly. WIFI and pets are guaranteed. In other words, there is less nickel and dime stuff.

Next year will bring the first Bombardier Global 7500 into the NetJets fleet. With a nonstop range of up to 16 hours, the ultra-long-haul jet will enable customers to get to more places without fuel stops.

Looking forward

“I think it would be a mistake for anyone to underestimate NetJets. They are not chasing headlines, but they are still the biggest business jet operator in the world,” says Alasdair Whyte, editor and co-founder of Corporate Jet Investor, adding, “Until 2008, NetJets was very focused on growth. From the outside, it now seems more focused on running a good business – especially keeping customers happy and retaining them. They are adding a lot of new customers and still growing and taking a lot of new aircraft, but they are not looking for growth for growth’s sake.”

While earlier this year NetJets said it wanted to increase its client count in the Middle East, expect its main focus to be on the U.S. and Europe. Gallagher points out there are more private jets in Ohio and Tennessee than in India or China. Fish where the fish are. Stick to your knitting. If the time since the Great Depression provides any sort of reveal, private aviation’s biggest player learned from its mistakes and is ready to keep winning.

Of course, everyone knows about clear air turbulence. Despite its apparent dominance, for consumers, there’s a long tail market of mom and pop operators who are fully capable of winning bookings. Whyte says, “Although it is fun to compare the different large operators, private aviation is so fragmented that they are all competing with dozens of other companies, especially at a local level. If you want to check this, ask a charter broker to quote you a trip and see the options. There is plenty of room for everyone.”

Then there’s the prospect of converting more full aircraft owners to fractional ownership. If you add the flight hours of those aircraft, the NetJets, Inc. share is just 10.1% of the total U.S. market, one reason Gallagher says there is “plenty of runway” for growth. While NetJets is principally focused on selling time on its fleet, competitors like Directional, Vista Global and Wheels Up tally hundreds of millions of dollars in charter flights onto the fleets of smaller operators, another place there could be growth.

For the future, don’t expect much to change. “Safety and service are far more important to us than market share, but our maniacal focus on the former two has proven effective in maintaining the latter,” Gallagher says.

And of course, there’s the confidence shown by a company that uses #OnlyNetJets as its hashtag. Gallagher, who cut his teeth with Flight Options, Jet Aviation and Marquis Jet before landing at NetJets, switches to a sports analogy, comparing arrival at the hallowed grounds of the company’s headquarter in Columbus to “when you’re a kid, you don’t just dream about growing up and playing in the majors, you dream about playing for the Yankees.”

More from Boats & Planes in Perfectirishgifts

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covid19updater · 4 years ago

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COVID19 Updates: 10/27/2020

Ireland: A 7-hour flight has been linked to 59 coronavirus cases in Ireland, researchers say LINK

Belgium: Belgium asks doctors with coronavirus to keep working as cases surge LINK

Poland: 16,300 new cases

UK: A study of 365,104 adults in England shows that antibody levels have fallen, with the largest drop in people aged 75 and over. COVID-19: Public immunity “waning quite rapidly” as fewer than 5 per cent have antibodies LINK

Belgium: Belgium has now the highest number of corona cases per 100,000 inhabitants in all of Europe...Belgium went over the Czech Republic and is now the worst affected country in Europe for coronavirus. Belgium currently has the highest incidence of Covid-19 cases in all of Europe, with 1,390.9 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past two weeks. This is evident from the latest figures from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Until now, the Czech Republic preceded our country, but that is no longer the case. The Czech Republic currently has 1,379.8 infections per 100,000 inhabitants in two weeks. Luxembourg (760.4), Slovenia (732.8) and the Netherlands (694.1) follow at a great distance. ECDC collects data not only from the 27 countries of the European Union, but also from the other countries that make up the European Economic Area, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, as well as the United Kingdom. The number of deaths attributed to Covid-19 is currently the highest in the Czech Republic, with 12.3 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in two weeks. In Belgium, this figure is the second highest in Europe, with 5.8 deaths.

World: What you need to prepare for the Covid-19 surge this season LINK

UK: New Covid crisis in British food plants: 324 workers test positive across five factories in just two weeks - as Nestlé is latest firm hit by outbreak after staff get ill at Cranswick and two Bernard Matthews sites LINK

US: American Academy of Pediatrics sees 14% increase in child COVID-19 cases with close to 800,000 US kids infected. LINK

UK: UK's coronavirus death toll rises by 367, biggest one-day increase since May - New cases: 22,885 - Positivity rate: 8.7% (+2.2) - In hospital: 9,502 (+206) - In ICU: 852 (+29) - New deaths: 367

France: French President Macron considering nationwide lockdown as curfews have failed to stop coronavirus - Le Figaro

Italy: +21,994 new cases. Yesterday: 17,007 /// Last week: 10,871 221 new deaths.Today's severity index = 60/100 /// Yesterday: 57/100

World: WE HAVE REACHED OVER 44,000.00 CASES WORLDWIDE 1,000,000 NEW CASES >>> UNDER 55 HOURS !!!

Belgium: COVID update: Daily death toll at highest level since early May - New cases: 12,687 - Positivity rate: 24.6% (+4.1) - In hospital: 5,260 (+433) - In ICU: 809 (+52) - New deaths: 89

France: In #Lyon, the number of hospitalizations due to # COVID19 is 554, three times more than the start of #confinement last March. The city's public hospitals have been forced to ban visits. (via @ 20Minutes)

Sweden: recorded 1,870 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the biggest one-day increase on record, according to figures released today

Russia: Russia orders national mask mandate as second COVID-19 wave hits the country LINK

Spain: Spain: +18,418 new cases +267 dead

World: Fauci: Early COVID-19 vaccines may only prevent symptoms, not block the virus

France: Several sources agree towards the announcement of a national lockdown of at least four weeks in order to curb the second wave COVID19. Universities should close, but nursery / primary schools should remain open. --(E1 / BFM)

France: +33,417. Yesterday: 26,771 /// Last week: 20,468 288 new deaths in hospitals, 235 deaths from nursing homes. total new deaths = 523 2988 new hospital admissions (!!!) Total in hospital 18,978 (+1194) . Positivity rate: 18.4% (yesterday 17.8%)

Netherlands: Dutch Prime Minister Rutte says too early to say whether more measures are needed, but emphasizes a "total lockdown" is being considered

France: FRENCH PRESIDENT MACRON TO GIVE TV ADDRESS ON WEDNESDAY, 8 PM - ELYSEE

New York: Bad news today #NY #COVID19 Highest positivity and hospitalizations in months. 111,618 tests reported yesterday, 1,991 were positive (1.78% of total). Total hospitalizations are at 1,083. SOURCE @NYGovCuomo

Poland: reports record 16,000 new coronavirus cases, number in hospital jumps by record 1,000 - New cases: 16,300 - Positivity rate: 24.7% (+4.4) - In hospital: 13,291 (+1,009) - In ICU: 1,078 (+79) - New deaths: 132

South Dakota: South Dakota man who voiced concerns about state's hospital capacity died from coronavirus LINK

US: THE US HAS REACHED OVER 9,000,000 CASES

Illinois: ILLINOIS SUSPENDS INDOOR DINING IN CHICAGO STARTING FRIDAY

France: BFMTV in France reports that new French "reconfinement" (their word for lockdown) will start at midnight on Thursday this week. Full details are unclear whether this includes schools or not. Measures will last for one month initially. BFM TV added the lockdown under consideration would be "more flexible" than the strict restrictions on movement imposed in March.

Tennessee: The total COVID-19 case count for Tennessee is 251,774 as of Tuesday, Oct. 27. That is an increase of 1,908 cases since the day before. There have been 3,207 deaths, an increase of 44 new deaths. There are 1,223 current hospitalizations and 222,348 inactive/recovered. The percent positive is 11.43%.

New York: New York’s public university system is requiring students to test negative for the coronavirus before they can leave for Thanksgiving break in hopes of preventing community spread as students fan across the country LINK

Czech Republic: All pre-planned healthcare activity in #Czechia is ordered to be stopped. Everything has to be concentrated on #COVID19 patients, now.

France: Just like during the first wave, #France has started dozens of medical transfers, from (near) saturated hospitals to other regions. But this time, in the #2ndWave, it´s difficult: #COVID19 is everywhere, simultaneously. Not many "safe havens" to go to...

RUMINT (France): From a hospital in Grand-Est (#France): ~"2 days ago, 1 in 6 new patients was #COVID19 related. Yesterday it was 1/4. Tonight it was every third, 3 in pre-respiratory arrest. None had comorbidities or was above 65."

Texas: reports more than 7,000 new coronavirus cases, biggest one-day increase in more than 2 months - New cases: 7,055 - Positivity rate: 8.1% (+0.5) - In hospital: 5,512 (+234) - In ICU: 1,601 (+56) - New deaths: 81

Colorado: Denver moves to second-highest level of COVID-19 restrictions as cases continue to surge

Germany: GERMAN GOVERNMENT DISCUSSING PLANS TO IMPOSE A TWO WEEK "WAVEBREAKER" LOCKDOWN: SHUTDOWN OF EVERYTHING BESIDES SCHOOLS, KINDERGARTENS AND ESSENTIAL RETAILERS

Israel: Children are more likely to be infected and be "super contaminators", according to the Israeli government. The reopening of schools has accelerated the spread of COVID19 in the country, with minors more often asymptomatic.

World: COVID’S COGNITIVE COSTS? SOME PATIENTS’ BRAINS MAY AGE 10 YEARS LINK

UK: Exclusive: Second Covid wave forecast to be more deadly than first LINK

France: The President of Medical Commission for Paris Hospitals: "(The Second wave) is more violent because it concerns all the regions in France, because there are all the other patients in our hospitals, because the teams are tired and because the population has had enough"

France: French media reports that a 4-week, nationwide lockdown is now the government's preferred option. "If we can save Christmas, let's consider ourselves lucky," one source told Europe 1

New Jersey: Newark Set To Begin Second Wave Of Coronavirus Restrictions On Non-Essential Businesses LINK

Idaho: Idaho's hospitals are full, nurses are fatigued and COVID-19 case rates are rising LINK

Texas: William Beaumont Army Medical Center to begin accepting El Paso COVID-19 patients LINK

Illinois: Store guard stabbed 27 times for asking women to wear masks LINK

Texas/Mexico: Virus pushes twin cities El Paso and Juarez to the brink LINK

Czech Republic: COVID update: New cases, deaths, and hospital admissions all at record highs - New cases: 15,663 - Positivity rate: 29.4% (-5) - In hospital: 6,191 (+578) - In ICU: 893 (+65) - New deaths: 182

Italy: Exhausted nurse becomes fresh symbol of COVID fight LINK

RUMINT (South Dakota): I just saw a commercial featuring the Governor of South Dakota, attempting to promote tourism to her state. They're currently rocking about 1,000 cases per day in a state that is 30% smaller than New Hampshire. To put that in perspective, they're about as bad as Belgium right now per capita.

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humantraffickingproject · 5 years ago

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Political Balancing of Anti-Trafficking Initiatives: 2019 TIP Report

By Emma Parker, Research Project Assistant The 2019 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report was released in June by the U.S. Department of State (DOS). As mandated by the U.S. Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, the TIP Report is an annual publication by the DOS. The DOS prepares this annual report by using information from U.S. embassies, government officials, NGOs and international organizations, as well as numerous written reports of human trafficking globally. Each country is placed into one of four tiers: Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watch List, and Tier 3. Additionally, there are a few countries exempt from ranking and are instead in a category titled Special Cases. If a country is ranked in Tier 1, their government fully meets the TVPA’s minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking. If in Tier 2, a country’s government does not fully meet the standards, but are making efforts to follow those standards. If in Tier 2 Watch List, the governments do not fully meet the standards, yet they are trying to bring themselves into compliance. However, countries on the Watch List are marked by a lack of improvement in addressing their human trafficking situations. Countries that fall in the Tier 3 category do not fully meet the standards and are not making significant efforts to do so. The 2019 reporting period which covered April 2018 through March 2019 revealed that 22 countries improved their rankings while 26 countries worsened in their rankings. The DOS stated the focus of this year’s report is Domestic Trafficking, which involves trafficking orchestrated under a government’s watch within their own borders. This highlight comes as response to a startling statistic from the International Labour Organization which states that 77% of victims were trafficked in their own country. This report calls on governments to implement and enforce their own domestic laws to hold violators accountable and support victims. The following examples are some notable changes in rankings from the 2019 TIP report.

Afghanistan: Downgraded to Tier 2 Watch List

Since 2018, Afghanistan was added to the Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA) List which identifies governments that supported armed forces that participated in the use and recruitment of child soldiers. Largely for this reason, Afghanistan dropped from a Tier 2 ranking in 2018 to a Tier 2 Watch List ranking in 2019. Additionally, the Afghan government has not been able to properly identify the difference between trafficking and smuggling. This has created difficulty in identifying and providing adequate resources for trafficking victims. Therefore, the government has allocated these responsibilities to NGOs. For Afghanistan to improve their ranking in coming years, the government must cease the unlawful recruitment and use of children by Afghan security forces and demobilize all children currently involved in armed groups. Furthermore, the information gathered from Afghanistan for the 2019 report was contradictory and not comprehensive. To improve ranking, the data and statistics coming from Afghanistan must be cohesive, reliable, and consistent.

Germany: Downgraded to Tier 2

This year marks the first year since the TIP report began in 2012 that Germany has not held a Tier 1 ranking. This year, Germany dropped to Tier 2. Only 36% of convicted sex traffickers in 2017 were serving prison time, therefore Germany did not meet the TVPA’s minimum standard requiring incarceration for convicted traffickers. Additionally, Germany’s law enforcement data has shown a decline in convictions for trafficking since 2009. By neglecting to prosecute human traffickers within their borders, the focus for 2019’s TIP report, Germany has fallen from Tier 1 to Tier 2 and will remain there until they improve efforts to hold human traffickers accountable.

Haiti: Upgraded to Tier 2

This year, Haiti received the highest ranking it ever has by becoming a Tier 2 country. Prior to this year, Haiti had fallen on either the Tier 2 Watch List or Tier 3. Haiti’s improvement in ranking comes from the government’s increased efforts of investigating, prosecuting, and convicting more traffickers. Though there is still much to be improved upon, Haiti has enacted increasingly effective measures to decrease trafficking and hold traffickers responsible.

Saudi Arabia: Downgraded to Tier 3

After holding a Tier 2 Watch List status for the past 4 years, Saudi Arabia has reverted to its previous ranking as a Tier 3 country. Saudi Arabia has consistently failed to make efforts to effectively combat human trafficking and hold traffickers legally accountable. In fact, Saudi Arabia has continued to fine, jail, or deport migrant workers for prostitution or immigration violations, even if the migrants were identified trafficking victims. Though it is significant that the United States downgraded Saudi Arabia for failure to combat human trafficking, the report may have not gone far enough. The DOS failed to list Saudi Arabia on the CSPA, though the state is reported to be using child soldiers in their military. By evading the list, Saudi Arabia still qualifies to get military assistance from the United States. By overlooking countries’ human trafficking abuses in cases like this, the United States shows that the standards are not objective or ubiquitous.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the TIP report fails to properly combat human trafficking by contributing to the politicization of human rights abuses. Scrutinizing these violations through the lens of political alliances only perpetuates human trafficking and the systems that bolster it worldwide. In order to effectively rank, legislate, and enforce anti-trafficking measures, the standards by which nations and laws are judged must be universal and not subject to biased political maneuvers. Edited by Haven Campbell, Director of Communications Photo Credit: Department of State

About the Human Trafficking Center

The Human Trafficking Center, housed in the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies, is the only two-year, graduate-level, professional-training degree in human trafficking in the United States. One way graduate students contribute to the study of human trafficking is by publishing research-based blogs. The HTC was founded in 2002 to apply sound research and reliable methodology to the field of human trafficking research and advocacy. Founded in 1964, the Josef Korbel School of International Studies is one of the world’s leading schools for the study of international relations. The School offers degree programs in international affairs and is named in honor of its founder and first dean, Josef Korbel.

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https://www.humantraffickingproject.com/political-balancing-of-anti-trafficking-initiatives-2019-tip-report/

#htc #humantrafficking #humantraffickinghelp #humantraffickingnews

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fumpkins · 5 years ago

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Why is bus ridership falling almost everywhere except Pittsburgh?

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Q. Dear Umbra,

Buses seem like a really obvious way to make cities more climate-forward. Why don’t more people take the bus? How can we change that?

Really Indignant & Devoted to Equitable Roads

A. Dear RIDER,

You’re not alone in honing in on public transportation as a climate solution. When the whole world is panicking about us having 11 or so years to drastically curb CO2 levels and try to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, it makes a lot of sense to target transportation, the largest source of U.S. emissions! And a very effective way to shrink that carbon footprint is for cities to reduce the number of single-passenger trips by providing excellent public transportation and safe biking and walking infrastructure.

Buses, in particular, are excellent car alternatives for cities looking to go greener. For one thing, they’re much cheaper up front than light rail or even rapid transit systems because a lot of the infrastructure they require (roads) is already in place. Bus routes are also flexible, meaning they work well in the less dense neighborhoods that make up most American cities. And they’re faster to implement: The average light rail system easily takes 10 years to get up and running, which doesn’t sound so great with that whole 2030 deadline on the horizon.

And yet even in cities where people seem to be on the (metaphorical) climate train, too many are hesitant to get on the (literal) bus! Part of that has to do with the longstanding stigma around buses — the idea that they’re cumbersome and slow and dirty (we’ll get to that in a moment). As a result, bus ridership is falling in most metro areas. Except, that is, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I grew up.

I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was 21, and taking the city bus in Pittsburgh was, in more than one sense, a wild ride. It afforded me a lot of freedom: I didn’t have to ask my parents for rides or to borrow the car, I didn’t have to tell them where I was going because I could get there myself, it was basically free with my bus pass from the city school district, and I developed a pretty advanced mental map of the city at a young age.

But there were mishaps, too. I spent a lot of time waiting in the freezing, sleeting cold at uncovered bus stops; vehicles broke down or seemingly disappeared into the ether; and certain routes required me to devise insane, convoluted connections. Once I was on a particularly harrowing road that runs along a cliffside when the operator, without explanation or much of an apology, simply fell asleep while driving. Nonstop thrills!

So I was both gratified and baffled to see that in 2018, Pittsburgh bus ridership grew by about 3 percent, more than any other metro area in the country. That’s especially surprising considering that in 2006 — shortly before I left the city to go to college — about a third of the Port Authority’s bus service was cut due to budget issues, and it’s never been restored.

So why is bus ridership so robust in Pittsburgh as it’s falling in many other places (even lefty environmentalist havens like Portland and Denver)? Could the Paris of Appalachia hold the secret to getting folks out of their cars and onto public transportation? I set out to investigate.

David Huffaker, the newly appointed chief development officer for the Port Authority of Allegheny County, told me that the Pittsburgh metro is one of the only places where “buses are king, and the rail is kind of secondary.” (Transit Center data shows that all ridership growth in Pittsburgh in 2018 came from buses alone — rail ridership actually dropped.)

The city’s bus system hasn’t done a major service expansion or redesign, but despite its age, it particularly excels at speed, at least along specific channels. The system threads across the city, including the East Busway, a completely protected seven-mile highway that’s exclusively reserved for high-speed bus routes. The East Busway was one of the first bus rapid transit systems (a.k.a. BRTs) when it opened in the early 1980s, and it’s still pretty impressive to city planners to this day! There’s also a West Busway, developed more recently, and protected bus lanes on north and south freeways.

“The folks who created BRTs around the world look back to the East Busway as the prototypical BRT,” said Chris Briem, regional economist in Urban & Regional Analysis Program at the University of Pittsburgh.

Culture-wise, it’s fairly normal for locals to take alternative forms of transportation to get to work. Only 64 percent of Pittsburgh commuters drive to work, and 17 percent use public transit. (Nationally, 86 percent of commuters drive and 5 percent use public transit.) But that car-free mentality (and opportunity) doesn’t necessarily apply outside of the city. If you look at Allegheny County, 81 percent of the population drives to work — 72 percent without any additional passengers.

Another factor in Pittsburgh’s growing bus-ridership: the city’s changing demographics. Although the population hasn’t actually grown in 10 years, it has become a younger, more professional, and wealthier city than it was when I was riding the PAT bus. That shift has translated to more commuters, but hasn’t necessarily boded well for the city’s low-income population. Poorer households have been priced out of the city and pushed to outlying areas, which are not as well served by public transit — especially since the cuts of 2006.

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I’d be remiss in not mentioning that PAT is also hampered by several unfortunate factors: One, it’s almost entirely dependent on funding from the state of Pennsylvania, which has a lot of transportation priorities outside of urban transit systems. Two, it’s trying to create a system that works for everyone in a city with a lot of geographical challenges: precipitous hills, pencil-thin windy streets, and rivers that cut the city into three bizarrely-shaped chunks.

Pittsburgh’s ridership increase has largely been driven by students traveling in and out of the city’s university-dense center, and by new, “unconventional” commuting routes. Laura Wiens, director of Pittsburghers for Public Transit, said that people living in the outskirts — or even more remote city neighborhoods — don’t reap the same transit benefits as those living close to downtown. “We’ve done surveys on people displaced from the city. People are taking Uber and Lyft, they’re socially isolated, they lose their jobs, transportation costs rise.”

And since car infrastructure is still good and parking is cheap, it’s not yet a city where people use public transit for pretty much anything outside of work. “I think those in better economic conditions don’t rely on the bus as much,” said Jay Ting Walker, vice president of the Allegheny Transit Council. “When there’s no traffic, outside of commuting hours, you can zip around the city so fast in a car, it’s crazy. It’s very easy to drive in Pittsburgh, so if you have a car, it makes sense to use it.”

Ting Walker says that difference is especially apparent when you look at the ethnic and racial breakdown of riders at different times of the day. “During 9 to 5 commuting hours, there are a lot of white people in suits,” he said. “Every other time — weekends, nights — very few white people on the bus. It’s a stark difference.”

Race has a lot to do with the cultural acceptance or rejection of public transportation. New rail lines or rail stops are more associated with gentrification of a neighborhood than bus lines or bus stops. Ting Walker says lingering stereotypes (e.g., trains are for white people, buses are for black people) can lead to “rail fetishization,” where wealthier, whiter residents falsely think of buses as run-down, lesser transportation options. “When I see a person saying we want trains, not buses, that sets off a red flag,” he said. “Meanwhile, busway systems are pretty decent, but we have so many examples of crappy trains.”

But stereotypes aside, one legitimate reason that buses are less popular than trains is their unpredictability: Theoretically, a bus could have the freedom to just jump off its route, and then where would you be! It could get stuck in traffic. It could break down. You could wait an hour for a bus that just never, ever comes! (It Happened To Me … many times.) Humans tend to prefer a sense of control, particularly when it comes to getting to work on time.

Cities and their transit agencies can resolve some of these problems in a couple of ways, such as: creating dedicated bus lanes, doing better maintenance on vehicles, and implementing those snazzy real-time timetables that tell you when the next bus is coming. (Smartphone apps are a good start, but they also require riders to have smartphones, which isn’t super equity-minded.)

And while it’s nice to have advertising and awareness campaigns that promote bus transit as enjoyable and preferable to driving — which I genuinely believe is true! — ultimately, bus-riding has to be made more appealing than driving. Most American cities have already been built around cars, which means metros may need to create disincentives for driving — such as congestion pricing, more expensive or decreased parking, and trimming car lanes to make room for bikes and buses.

In Pittsburgh, the mayor’s Climate Action Plan aims to increase transit commuter trips by 100 percent and decrease single-passenger vehicle commuter trips by 50 percent by 2030, but no meaningful legislation has been passed to disincentivize driving and make room for buses. So while it may be ahead in rides for now, it’s going to have to work just as hard as other cities to maintain that trajectory. And it’s also crucial to point out that even though ridership is up, it’s not as high as it was when Pittsburgh had greater bus service in the early aughts.

When requesting funding for the state, PAT’s Huffaker said the county is hoping to eventually restore some of that lost service. “We’re cognizant of not saying that our operating baseline is what we’re getting today, but rather where we were 15 years ago.”

Anyway, RIDER, I love the bus. I like having someone else drive me around, I like thinking about the efficiency of bus routes, I like making a climate-friendly choice without having to exercise, and I am a shameless people-watcher so I like that part, too. I think a lot of people could take some pages out of our shared book, but most importantly, those people should be the ones who make the laws that shape the streets of cities and counties.

Meanderingly,

Umbra

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toldnews-blog · 6 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/world/the-greta-effect-meet-the-schoolgirl-climate-warriors/

The Greta effect? Meet the schoolgirl climate warriors

This Friday, like many Fridays before it, Haven Coleman will not be attending school. The 13-year-old is taking a stand.

Coleman, from Denver, Colorado, is risking her education to strike for climate change action. She told the BBC her decision was down to one person: Greta Thunberg.

“Once we found Greta, we were like, ‘Oh that’s amazing, let me try, let me do something similar’,” Coleman said.

When Thunberg sat outside Sweden’s parliament on 20 August, 2018, aged 15, she cut a lonely figure. Carrying a “school strike for climate change” sign, she said she was refusing to attend classes until Swedish politicians took action.

Nine months on, Thunberg is no longer alone. Energised by her climate strike movement, Fridays for Future (FFF), students are vowing to boycott school on Fridays until their countries adhere to the 2015 Paris agreement, which aims to prevent global temperatures from rising 1.5C (34.7F) above pre-industrial levels.

On 15 March, an estimated 1.6 million students from 125 countries walked out of school to demand climate change action. The next co-ordinated international protest takes place on Friday, before another global strike on 24 May.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionEnvironmental activist Greta Thunberg says climate change is ‘an existential crisis’

Coleman, the co-director of US Youth Climate Strike, is one of them. She founded the organisation with Isra Hirsi, the 16-year-old daughter of Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and Alexandria Villaseñor, 13.

“It’s really cool because it’s driven by girls. I think that’s amazing,” she said.

Based on the “tonnes of people” she knows within the movement, she believes girls outnumber boys. Learning about the effects of deforestation on sloths – her “favourite animal” – was her gateway into climate activism.

But it was Thunberg’s school walk-out, she said, that prompted her to start striking on her own.

Image copyright Haven Coleman

Image caption Haven has accused adults of being frozen by the fear of change

So she began descending the steps of the Denver Capitol Building every Friday with her “school for climate strike” placard. With the help of Hirsi, who’s from Minneapolis, and Villaseñor, who’s from New York, she led a nationwide strike on 15 March across all 50 states.

Coleman takes a dim view of adults like Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who believes she should be in school, not out protesting. Her assessment of world leaders was damning – she accused them of patronising her and being frozen by the fear of change.

Youth strikers were “turning this fear into action”, she said. “We’re trying to fix a mess that adults can still fix.”

Coleman’s organisation, US Youth Climate Strike, is backing the New Green Deal (NGD) – a policy proposal to reduce carbon emissions by transforming the US economy. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest congresswoman in history at 29, is an enthusiastic supporter of the policy initiative, although convincing others of its merits has proved more difficult.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Thunberg stands on stage at a Fridays for Future protest in Berlin

Ms Ocasio-Cortez’s NGD resolution was roundly rejected by the Senate in March, defeated by 57 votes to zero. Republican lawmakers, some of whom do not believe in man-made climate change, have branded the NGD a “socialist manifesto”.

Their resistance illustrates the political realities facing young climate activists. For all the young strikers’ passion, it is politicians who are navigating the economic and practical complexities of shifting the global economy away from fossil fuels and towards a carbon-free future.

There is overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is caused by human behaviour, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a UN body. A 2016 study of peer-reviewed journals said the IPCC’s position was shared by 97% of actively publishing climate scientists. Most leading scientific organisations, including NASA, the American Meteorological Society and the UK Met Office, agree.

To minimise the risks, global carbon emissions must be cut by 50% within the next 11 years, a landmark UN report warned last year. If temperatures go beyond the 1.5C threshold, experts fear climate change could become unstoppable by 2030 – by which time Lilly Platt will be 22.

Platt, who is 11 and lives in the Netherlands, is impatient for change. “I’m in the generation that has to suffer through this,” she told the BBC.

Image copyright Lilly Platt

Image caption Lilly Platt started a litter-picking campaign in 2015

Accompanied by her mum, she strikes on Fridays for an hour with permission from her school.

Her protests, held outside her local town hall in Utrecht, were about “educating and informing people about climate change”, she said. She is a child ambassador for the Plastic Pollution Coalition and HOW Global, a water charity.

And she has her own litter-picking campaign, Lilly’s Plastic Pick Up. Started in 2015, when Platt was seven, it focuses on “informing people about single-use plastic and how they can stop using it”.

She too cited Thunberg as the inspiration for her first school climate strike. But she is now well known in her own right – she has more than 6,600 followers on Twitter. Is there a reason girls like her are spearheading climate movements?

“I think it’s because we’re inspiring more people. You have to lead by example,” she said.

Image copyright Lilly Platt

Image caption Lilly Platt strikes school on Fridays with her mum

In many cases, it is the developing countries that contribute least to global fossil fuel emissions that are likely to suffer most from climate change.

Leah Namugerwa is a 14-year-old FFF activist in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Her country, like many others in Africa, is at risk of desertification – a process that causes fertile agricultural land to turn barren. Experts say droughts and elevated temperatures – two factors linked to climate change – cause it to occur.

At the age of 12, Namugerwa watched TV news reports about Uganda’s devastating famine of 2017, when exceptional drought conditions left millions in need of food aid. Horrified by the scale of suffering, she felt compelled to act. Inspired by Thunberg, she held her debut protest on 1 February this year and has been striking every Friday since.

“I wanted to make a positive change in my country and pressure my government into taking action,” she told the BBC.

Image copyright Alamy

Image caption Leah Namugerwa (wearing a red pinstriped shirt) striking with her classmates

Climate change was also “escalating existing gender inequality” – women and girls would endure a “steep social cost”, Namugerwa said.

According to a 2015 report by the World Health Organization (WHO), women are more vulnerable than men to the impact of extreme climate events for a variety of reasons, including biological and social factors.

But women and girls would not suffer in silence, Namugerwa said. “We have no-one to fight for us so we have to do it ourselves.”

The US, China and India are the three biggest emitters of carbon dioxide in recent decades, according to latest statistics from Our World in Data.

Asheer Kandhari is a 15-year-old climate activist from India’s capital, Delhi, where studies show carbon emissions are having a significant impact on air quality. Kandhari was inspired by the recent Extinction Rebellion protests in London, which saw activists glue themselves together, blocking major roads and train routes.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionA hair-raising drive through the Delhi smog

Of the world’s 30 worst cities for air pollution, 22 are in India, according to a report by Greenpeace and AirVisual. Delhi, where Kandhari strikes with FFF India, was ranked the world’s most polluted capital. In contrast, London is the 48th most polluted capital.

Furious with an Indian government she claims is “destroying” the environment, Kandhari wants Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare a climate emergency. “They’re not realising how important this is or the severity of the situation,” she said.

She called on boys to get more involved. “It’s as much their movement as it is ours,” she said.

Image copyright Asheer Kandhari

Image caption Asheer Kandhari takes part in Extinction Rebellion protests in India

Research by Girlguiding has found that climate degradation ranks among the biggest concerns for young women.

With the help of the world’s media, Thunberg has amplified and personified their anxieties. In the process, she has managed to mobilise them with a simple call to action: school strike for climate.

For Kandhari, the reason for joining her is a matter of life and death. “What’s the point of studying if [humanity may not live to see] next century?” she asks.

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omgstupendousbouquetbasement · 6 years ago

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LinkedIn: US Midwest Floods Prompting Workers to Migrate to Safer Ground

Deadly floods in the U.S. that bear the fingerprints of climate change are prompting an exodus of workers from the Midwest, the world's biggest professional social network, LinkedIn, said Wednesday. The website, on which millions of U.S. workers maintain profiles, said data showed a spike in members changing their work location from areas flooded last month to cities in the Southwest and on the West Coast. "When you look at the most real-time data that we have, and that's our 'job starts', we've seen those come down quite a bit in the cities that have been hit," said Guy Berger, chief economist at LinkedIn. The finding emerged from a LinkedIn analysis of user-generated data. LinkedIn users can share their location and job information — such as when they start a new job — on their profile. Hiring rates tracked through the platform dropped across the Midwest, LinkedIn said in its April U.S. workforce report, published Monday. Omaha, Nebraska, and Fargo, North Dakota, registered among the most extreme decreases in hiring rates at nearly 8 and 14 percent respectively, it said. The findings were based on the more than 155 million profiles of U.S. workers that are listed on the site, the company said. The U.S. labor force — employed and unemployed people — totaled 163 million people last month, according to the Department of Labor. Climate change had a hand in the record floods that have damaged crops and drowned livestock along the Missouri, Red and Mississippi rivers, especially in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, scientists have said. Fargo was also among communities impacted, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. LinkedIn's workforce report said that it has noticed "migration trends" following other natural disasters, such as Hurricane Irma, which hit the U.S. East Coast in 2017. Workers would likely move to such cities as Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth, Phoenix and Seattle, largely due to their proximity, affordability and growing economies, Berger predicted. It was unclear how permanent the retreat of workers from Midwest areas that were recently flooded would prove to be, Berger said. But a repeat of extreme weather events could lead to "a sustained bleed of talent," he said. A handful of American cities, from Duluth, Minnesota, to Cincinnati, Ohio, have begun promoting themselves as future havens for U.S. climate migrants as climate change is predicted to cause intense natural disasters elsewhere. from Blogger http://bit.ly/2UuF8WV via IFTTT

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mrhenryharrell · 7 years ago

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February 13 Green Energy News

Headline News:

On the outskirts of Denver, not far from Denver International Airport, a grand experiment is underway. Panasonic has partnered with a consortium of local partners to transform a 400-acre patch of greenfield land into a smart district. One goal of the project is that the smart district be built as a carbon-neutral microgrid. [Power Technology]

Solar canopies in a Denver car park (Panasonic image)

The Solar Foundation’s National Solar Jobs Census shows that Vermont lost 232 full-time solar jobs between November 2016 and November 2017. Vermont’s solar sector was the most affected by the changes to net metering, and the organization says that the federal tariff on most imported solar panels will make matters worse. [pv magazine USA]

Sea level rise is happening at rate that is rising is increasing every year, according to a study released Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A professor of aerospace engineering sciences from the University of Colorado-Boulder led researchers, who used satellite data dating to 1993 to observe ocean levels. [CNN]

In 2017, 20% of all new cars in Norway were EVs. The country’s ambition is that only electric cars will be sold from the year 2025. A survey reveals that almost half of Norwegians expect their next new car to be electric. But is the electric grid ready for this? One expert says it probably is, but it might be best not to charge on Thursday nights. [CleanTechnica]

A group of Massachusetts lawmakers unveiled a bill that aims to increase the state’s use of renewable energy. The bill released by the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change sets a goal of making the state 100% reliant on renewable energy by 2050, expanding renewable generation and electric transportation. [New Haven Register]

For more news, please visit geoharvey – Daily News about Energy and Climate Change.

February 13 Green Energy News posted first on Green Energy Times

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erectiledysfunc · 4 years ago

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